Do any of arch-lockdowners regret it?

[Refractory]

Just that really.

I haven’t really been on MN since 2020 because I found the near complete support for lockdown far too upsetting.

the lockdowners in my life seem to not think about it much. For them, it’s just over.

with hindsight do you wish you’d been more sceptical?

would love a civil conversation about this.

Surely the gas checks were for their own safety though? If they had a gas leak and it killed them then the housing associations would have been blamed for that. I hadn’t read that story before and I can definitely see that it was heavy-handed, but at the same time it was about keeping the tenants safe.

Purely an example that scare tactics have consequences

Not sure what an ‘arch lockdowner’ is?

If someone who was mass buying loo rolls and tins and putting their haul through decontamination rituals as well as hogging delivery slots across several supermarket platforms, yes that was very annoying.

Boris dithered about and was a hypocrite throwing parties behind closed doors, even more annoying. Wasted so much money lining the pockets of their mates (typical of the last 14 years).

I don’t regret anything personally.

I’m still unhappy with selfish people who don’t stay home when they’re unwell - I don’t want your virus whatever it is (not does anyone else).

I think the point @JenniferBooth is making ( please correct me if I'm wrong) is that many people in social housing are in especially big cities, in flats or tower blocks with no personal outside space, dependant on either their landlords or their housing association for any issues, none of which they had any control over and yet they were either supposed to deal with themselves or allow designated people into their homes? Both of which would be contrary to either the apparent guidance at the time or their tenancy agreement. And during this time these people (paid minimum wage) were still out working during a supposed lockdown so others could feel safe!

I'm in Ireland but I'm sure our rules were similar enough.

Some of the vaccinated followed the rules but they put more people at risk than some of the unvaccinated.

For example when the vaccine passports came out they were out in pubs/clubs/everywhere they wanted to go just because they could, because they'd been vaccinated, even though our numbers were still sky high at that point.

I didn't get the vaccine but I stayed at home pretty much so I was coming into contact with hardly anyone.

And some of those people were so embarrassing how they went on, acting so high and mighty criticising the anti-vaxxers even though they were the ones out spreading it! They didn't care at all about limiting the risk to others once they were vaccinated.

No you're not a lemming - just an idiot who seems to think the world should revolve around you and your wants.

So governments all around the world had a secret conference and decided to manufacture lockdowns to steal taxpayers money to give to their cronies did they? Or did they simply all have the same idea at the same time?

And you have the nerve to call other people stupid 😂

How many times do you intend to repeat this????

Everyone I know dealt with it at the time, then got on with their lives. You can hold your grudge forever, but the only person who will be harmed by it is you.

I don't know anyone who was negatively affected by lockdown - you are talking a load of rubbish with your "most people". How do you even know "most people?". People here rarely mention it these days.

But that was only your experience. I live alone, as does my exDH - and we both loved lockdown. Why were you not allowed near another human? I went out for a walk every day and saw lots of people. I also saw people on my weekly supermarket shopping trip. I spoke to my DF every day by phone, I spoke to friends on the phone. It seems to me a lot of people just wallowed in self-pity instead of showing a bit of resilience and getting on with it.

I'm with you op. I know it's in the past and we've moved on etc. but it's horrifying how some behaved and their attitude towards family friends and neighbours

I think we did know it wouldn't wipe out half the world. The sainted scientists had already told us that

Not been on since 2020 and suddenly appear on the day of the general election? Yeah whatever.

Yes, I can well believe that. Also, the fact that people in government i.e those who knew more than anyone about the dangers were found to be breaking rules tells us how dangerous the virus really was.
It amazes me that people rage at Boris and co for breaking the rules they obviously saw as pointless but not for imposing those rules on the rest of us

We were not supposed to meet friends, even outside, at the beginning. I too went for a walk every day, and the streets were deserted.
Seeing strangers from 2m away, a little chat in the supermarket queue, doesn't make up for not being allowed to actually spend time with someone, or have a hug, when you're feeling awful aching inside because you miss your loved ones so much.

You can bang on about "resilience" all you like, but you're missing the point that a huge part of human resilience comes from the social side of life, from not being alone going through awful stuff. Going through things with social support actually makes it less likely people will show a trauma response later, for example. It is you who seems to be the outlier not minding the isolation.

Once I started seeing a handful of people I was fine, getting on with things, and actually look back fondly on the summer/autumn of 2020 as a result. Even when isolated I carried on working, working out every day, doing positive things like gardening, not spiralling into alcohol or overeating like many did. That's resilience. But the nightmares came later. The effect it had on me was immense. It was hell, and should never have been allowed to happen - people living alone should have been allowed to bubble from the start, as they were in NZ. There is nothing, no crisis, that could happen that justifies telling certain people they are not allowed within 2m of another.

Paying people to stay at home was an essential component of lockdown. And it needed to be enough to keep a critical mass of them not just fed but also onside. If we hadn't done that, more people would've had to work informally and use ad hoc childcare, both of which increase contacts.

In the UK, we don't have enough of a coercive state apparatus to force millions of people to stay at home if they don't want to. And lockdown policy meant that millions of people were, overnight, unable to do their jobs. We couldn't have expected the organisations they worked for to keep paying them whilst doing no work and creating no revenue. They'd have been made redundant. The UC system wouldn't cope with millions of new claimants overnight, plus it's intentionally punitive anyway. It's not enough for most people to live on by itself because it isn't supposed to be.

Additionally, childcare furlough was vital because otherwise parents who couldn't access it would instead have ended up using informal networks and increasing contacts that way. Paying people to stay at home and look after their own DC keeps them out of the way.

It was mentioned by my GP and my midwife, luckily my midwife didn't ask my reasoning why or question it any further when I said I was only getting whooping cough and not COVID. But a couple of my pregnant friends did get it, each to their own. But going through a pregnancy where they said "under no circumstances get the jab when pregnant" I'm not suddenly going to sign myself up now 😅

I saw NHS workers and others who were working at close quarter with others during lockdowns engage in a fair bit of rule breaking too. Retail, factory etc.

It was evident some people weren't really persuaded by the idea that they could take risks when providing services to others, often for pretty modest wages, but it wasn't acceptable for them to take risks when it came to seeing their loved ones, maintaining relationships etc.

No I don’t regret it. And I actually miss it. The fun I had with my children, the bond we made was amazing. And I’ll never ever have that kind of time with them again. I look back on it very very fondly. And if I thought I could get away with a lockdown just for us again I’d do it again. My children absolutely benefited from having that time I think and it helped me immeasurably to learn about myself and my mental health and put boundaries in place when we went back to normal.
i also feel happy that I followed the rules to the letter and put nobody at risk. I find peace knowing that nobody died because we disregarded the rules.

Doubt you would've enjoyed it so much id you were stuck in 24/7 alone though not being " allowed" to see people. That was the reality for many people.

I do think it was necessary, but its a sign of our society that it was so strict I feel.
So many people operate on a 'rules don't apply to me' policy (low level stuff - pushing into queues, parking on yellow lines, term time holidays) that the rules had to be super strict as they knew that only maybe 60% would fully, another 30% would bend the rules and the rest not give a toss and do what they like. If the rules had been less strict, people still would have bent them.

I do look back though and think I was a bit crazy in thinking someone was watching and would fine me for going on more than 1 walk per day, but it was an unprecedented event and I don't think many knew quite how to react.

Do I regret following mandated restrictions to prevent the spread of disease? No. Also using a silly loaded term like " arch-lockdowners" indicates to me that you are not, in fact, interested in a logical conversation.

You can see which political party shares the same anti lockdown sentiments :

The new national lockdown will result in more life-years lost than it hopes to save, as non-Covid patients with cancer, cardiac, lung and other illnesses have treatments delayed or cancelled again. Suicides are soaring. Businesses and jobs are being destroyed."
Longer lockdown?
Mr Farage and Mr Tice said the UK should follow the Great Barrington Declaration, which calls for "focused protection" for the elderly and other groups particularly vulnerable to Covid-19, while others continue to live relatively normally.
Their email said: "The rest of the population should, with simple hygiene measures and a dose of common sense, get on with life - this way we build immunity in the population. We must learn to live with the virus not hide in fear of it."

I think thinking that you were being watched so that you didn’t walk more than once a day is proving OP’s point.

The witch hunt on MN would have helped engender that fear.

Maybe not. But I was asked did I regret how I behaved in that time. The answer is no. I was at home with my children, not all rainbows and roses but overall it was an important time for us as a family. I can feel empathy for those who feel differently while still not regretting my own behaviour and stating I enjoyed it. I don’t expect others to all feel the same as me….and neither should you.